There are two ways to escape. You almost figured out one of them.
The other is hinted at in the journal page you find there. The journal isn’t just flavor text. Every pages has useful information.
Could you yourself test to see if the total asset abandonment method is working as intended? I can't figure out what would be considered an asset and what is considered abandoning them. The journal is definitely mentioned in Page 18. I went in there with the journal and classification book. I dropped both and even made sure to get my clothing stripped. I tried again with the Journal and a full inventory of Identified Mushrooms. The only item I could not abandon was the needle. Clearly I am doing something wrong but no method of "abandonment" seems to be working.
you’ve already tried, exactly the same thing I could come up with. The needle is impossible to part with, unless you ‘use it’. That’s not exactly escaping, but rather just forcing yourself awake.
I considered the possibility that you might need to leave items at the base of the painted trees, even the possibility of just leaving everything with the skeleton. That total asset abandonment method eluded me, that’s why I was so thankful for the tip about the trees instead.